I cover science and public policy, environmental sustainability, media ideology, NGO advocacy and corporate responsibility. I'm executive director of the Genetic Literacy Project (www.GeneticLiteracyProject.org), an independent NGO, and Senior Fellow at the World Food Center's Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy at the University of California-Davis. I've edited/authored seven books on genetics, chemicals, risk assessment and sustainability, and my favorite, on why I never graduated from college football player (place kicker) to pro athlete: "Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It". Previously, I was a producer and executive for 20 yeas at ABC News and NBC News. Motto: Follow the facts, not the ideology. Play hard. Love dogs.

A popular weapon used by those critical of agricultural biotechnology is to claim that there has been little to no evaluation of the safety of GM crops and there is no scientific consensus on this issue. Those claims are simply not true.

The claim that genetically engineered crops are ‘understudied’—the meme represented in the quotes highlighted above—has become a staple of opponents of crop biotechnology, especially activist journalists. Anti-GMO campaigners, including many organic supporters, assert time and again that genetically modified crops have not been safety tested or that the research done to date on the health or environmental impact of GMOs has “all” been done by the companies that produce the seeds. Therefore, they claim, consumers are taking a ‘leap of faith’ in concluding that they face no harm from consuming foods made with genetically modified ingredients.

That is false.

Every major international science body in the world has reviewed multiple independent studies—in some cases numbering in the hundreds—in coming to the consensus conclusion that GMO crops are as safe or safer than conventional or organic foods. But until now, the magnitude of the research on crop biotechnology has never been cataloged. In response to what they believed was an information gap, a team of Italian scientists summarized 1783 studies about the safety and environmental impacts of GMO foods—a staggering number.

The researchers couldn’t find a single credible example demonstrating that GM foods pose any harm to humans or animals. “The scientific research conducted so far has not detected any significant hazards directly connected with the use of genetically engineered crops,” the scientists concluded.

The research review, published in Critical Reviews in Biotechnology in September, spanned only the last decade—from 2002 to 2012—which represents only about a third of the lifetime of GM technology.

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ESG MediaMetrics only works on sustainability issues. I’ve prepared sustainability reports for Fortune 500 companies. I’ve not had a client going on 5 years, and never had a client in the biotechnology or seed company field.

Bu,t but, but it’s been genetically modified which is evil and it sounds like it should be harmful so I’m not going to believe the science and besides, Monsanto, Monsanto Monsanto. lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala I can’t heaaaaaaaaaar you….

Dear Mkasskowitz: So you consider the World Health Organization, the National Academy of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science and the top 100 independent science organizations as “shills”? And “organic connect magazine” as a reliable source? Just want to get that straight.

When you look and see how many morons from Monsanto have been able to insert themselves into all of our government agencies, how is it possible for you to even write objectively about this? Michael Taylor is our Food Safety Czar at the FDA? Clarence Thomas…. etc? No wonder those of us who want more human testing done, or to have GMOs stopped altogether, is run into resistance like this.

How do you feel about corporations using GMO’s to control the food supply, sue farmers, stop farmers from saving seeds, destroy the diversity of food crops around the world? Ever read Doctor Vandana Shiva’s work? She would slap the crap out of your argument.

Nicole, I believe you need to educate yourself on the facts. As for your comments about seeds, there is not one example in which a farmer has been sued for involuntary cross pollination–not one. Every case prosecuted so far has been of farmer’s deliberately trying to circumvent patent laws by STEALING the seeds voluntarily. You totally misrepresented the Supreme Court decision, including the arguments by the liberal justices and the US government, who supported Monsanto’s position that stealing seeds and lying about is not legal. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. Since the 1930s, farmers have never been allowed to reuse patented seeds, and it’s one major reason we have such technological innovation in agriculture that’s benefited conventional and organic growers. Here is an article on it: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2013/02/19/farmers-deception-at-center-of-monsanto-gmo-soybean-scotus-patent-challenge-genetic-innovation-threatened/

As for Shiva, she is a dangerous fraud who’s upper class views are hurting poor farmers in India. Addressed that here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2014/01/29/vandana-shiva-anti-gmo-celebrity-eco-goddess-or-dangerous-fabulist/

” As interviews and reams of court documents reveal, Monsanto relies on a shadowy army of private investigators and agents in the American heartland to strike fear into farm country. They fan out into fields and farm towns, where they secretly videotape and photograph farmers, store owners, and co-ops; infiltrate community meetings; and gather information from informants about farming activities. Farmers say that some Monsanto agents pretend to be surveyors. Others confront farmers on their land and try to pressure them to sign papers giving Monsanto access to their private records. Farmers call them the “seed police” and use words such as “Gestapo” and “Mafia” to describe their tactics.”- Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear Monsanto, the people who brought us PCB’s and Dioxin- I’m sure you would’ve been behind those too!

So you rely on an anti-GMO documentary and I’ll rely on the US Supreme Court. Again, there is not one documented case–NOT ONE–in which a farmer has been prosecuted for involuntarily using GMO seeds. Every case prosecuted has been an example of theft. You can believe what you want…it’s kind of like Creationism…no talking to true believers about empirical facts. There is a reason why 92% of American farmers growing soy, corn and cotton have chosen to use GMOs…because they are more efficient, more environmentally sustainable and require fewer inputs.

PS- The farmers who were caught “stealing” were most often forced to settle out of court because they could not afford a legal battle to prove their innocence against a wealthy mega-corporation like Monsanto. (Never mind the insanity of patenting lifeforms that are completely uncontrollable when put into the ecosystem- for example farmers who have had to stop growing corn and soybeans to protect themselves against being contaminated with GMO pollen from neighboring farms). Others who tried to fight lost everything. Yet one poor Chilean farmer who did loose everything, still beat those jack-booted thugs. I hope more people follow his example: http://sustainablepulse.com/2014/01/23/destitute-chilean-farmer-defeats-monsanto-landmark-legal-victory/#.U0H_G8cmSAc

And I would say SCOTUS has lost all credibility with non-billionaires, after it’s most recent ruling.

Myself and tens of thousands of others have chosen to believe the facts, and not the “mythology” of the benevolent GMO corporation- that’s YOUR mad creationist-psychosis. And people like you and Monsanto are ultimately going to loose, and you know it. Hence the desperate propaganda you spew in this article. You’re repeating the same lies over and over in hopes people will come to believe it as truth- Goebbels would be proud of you!

PS: You just made that up about farmers. Not a scintilla of independent evidence to support your comment. So…it sounds like you’re a typical anti-GMO conspiracy freak…typical right wing stuff. Believes the Supreme Court is being manipulated by dark forces. And it’s impressive when you cite reliable sources like “sustainablepulse.com”–that’s almost as reliable as the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the European Food Safety Authority and about 90 other global independent science organizations that have found GMO foods safe…but NOT!! “sustainablepulse.com” And you have poor grammar too.

Of course farmers want to use gmo’s they get to turn a higher profit. But at who’s expense, the consumer. If you’re putting in the same amount of nutrients and getting double the yeild. It will show in the end product. The problem with these gene modifications are behind the reason they were designed in the first place. They spray these these things with a ridiculous amount of pesticides. that vegetables especially potatoes absorb into the edible areas. And guess who owns the pesticide resistant potatoes and the pesticide??? You guessed it Monsanto! Sounds like a monopoly to me.

do you trust Reuters? “The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Monsanto Co’s biotech seed patents on Monday, dealing a blow to a group of organic farmers and other activists trying to stop the biotech company from suing farmers if their fields contain a few plants containing the company’s genetically modified traits.

The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association and a group of dozens of organic and conventional family farmers, seed companies and public advocacy interests sued Monsanto in March 2011. The suit sought to prohibit the company from suing farmers whose fields became inadvertently contaminated with corn, soybeans, cotton, canola and other crops containing Monsanto’s genetic modifications.”

- See more at: http://ultraculture.org/blog/2014/01/14/supreme-court-monsanto-corporation-farmers-seeds/#sthash.rLGpUPdj.dpuf

Do they receive any sort of government funding? Do they receive any funding from companies like Monsanto?

I do not understand why you think that crops that create their own poison are sustainable… I do not understand why you think that one company can own the rights to crops, that’s not sustainable.

GMO based corn has been shown in MULTIPLE studies to give rats tumors, which then leads to death. They noticed that rats that also ate the GMO based corn were sterile. How about human life? Do you like sustainable human life?

There are FAR FAR more cons, than there are pros when dealing with GMO’s.

Now I am not talking about cross breading plants through pollination, but when you start changing the DNA of plants, to add things like chemicals and stuff, that’s were we need to draw the line.

That is just my opinion, and there are tons of people that are waking up to the fact that this stuff is poison, and we as humans are being poisons.. It’s one of the reasons that counties have BANNED GMO’s, and namely Monsanto for its crimes on humanity.

So, let me get this straight. You do not trust studies by the European Commission or independent government agencies but do “believe” in studies in which advocacy scientists buy their way into third rate journals? There are more than 900 independent studies and more than 2500 in total that overwhelmingly show GMOs are safe.

All plants ‘create their own poisons’. You need a class or horticulture 101. Regardless only a few GMOs utilize natural pesticides. Most GMOs actually add benefits, such as drought resistance or flood resistance or disease resistance or vitamins or result in the use of less insecticides or confer resistance to pests or promote quicker and healthier plant or animal growth; some remove dangers, such as apple browning or allergenicity. GMOs are used to make the cheese you eat–all of it. GMOs are used to make drugs, like insulin, that save lives every day. It appears you are unfamiliar with even the most common forms of genetic modification.

There is not one peer reviewed study in a major journal that shows that GMO corn gives rats tumors. Not one. You have misinformation about that.

Only two countries in the world have banned GMOs. You need to do a bit more homework before spouting anti-GMO propaganda.

Sorry, I will not support a company who controls the food supply. I will continue eating my organic, non GMO foods, vegetables, and fruits. It is completely unsustainable knowing you need licensing rights, to the seeds that a company gives you, for no major benefits.

I still find it funny that the farmers of these crops have to wear hazmat suits to spray their stuff on them, or to handle them. I don’t trust things this government tells me, because of the close ties to the government.

“Earlier this year Michael Taylor, the former vice president of public policy at Monsanto, was named by President Obama as deputy commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration.”

There are far far more people who have SPECIFIC interest in watching Monsanto succeed in world domination.

David W. Beier, Linda J. Fisher, Michael A. Friedman, M.D, L. Val Giddings, Marcia Hale, Michael (Mickey) Kantor, are to name just a hand full of people who have infiltrated our government.

If you feel comfortable eating GMO’s so be it man, but don’t force it down my throat.

“Ohhh GMO’s are good, here… become sterile with me.. die from cancer! yay!”

Cancer is a multi BILLION dollar industry, So is diabetes… I’m sure they want me healthy….